Fad Diet- Assignment

This assignment will ask you to use your knowledge regarding nutrient needs for adults and critique a popular fad diet. Examples of fad diets include, but are not limited to:

Wheat Belly
Paleo
Beachbody
Ideal Protein
Isagenix
Bulletproof

You will be responsible for researching the specific diet you've chosen and gathering information on how the diet is structured as well as assessing how nutritionally sound the diet appears to be, based on your knowledge of nutrition and health, as well as on the scientific evidence available. You will summarize the information in a 1500 word maximum paper. As this is a scientific paper, you are expected to provide support for your ideas from accurate sources, such as recent peer-reviewed research and your textbook. The following sources are NOT acceptable: articles from magazines, review articles, diet websites, WebMD, un-authored material, letters to the editor, Nutrition Review summaries etc.

The following topics must be addressed:

Macro and micronutrient adequacy - Does the diet provide the needed macronutrients and micronutrients? Are specific food groups limited? Be sure to back up your critique by referring to the specific macro and micronutrient recommendations!

Fallacies in the diet's claims - Does the diet make claims that are nutritionally false? i.e. claims to boost metabolism, lose weight without trying, block absorption of specific nutrients, or any other claims that sound too good to be true. Again, be sure to provide support for your critique.

Short and long-term health effects - Based on what you know regarding nutrition and health, are there any health effects that may come from following this diet in the long-term? i.e. high cholesterol, ketosis, osteoporosis etc.

Effectiveness - Do you think the diet would effectively help someone lose weight and most importantly, would that weight loss be sustainable in the long-term? Also, how easy would it be for people to stick with the diet? Is it so strict that long-term compliance would be difficult?

Additional diet specific information i.e. cost, supplements, who created the diet etc, as applicable.

Refer to research articles throughout the paper as applicable. Please include at least 2 original research articles published in the last 5 years on your diet as it pertains to either health outcomes or effectiveness of compliance and weight loss maintenance. Note that the research may not look at your specific fad diet, but may look at similar dietary intakes. For example, if you chose the Ideal Protein Diet, you may find research on low carbohydrate diets in general. If you chose the Beachbody diet, you may look at cleanses or fasts in general. Find research on diets with similar energy or macronutrient composition, not necessarily the exact same fad diet. These articles must be original research, i.e. they are not reviews of research done previously. Search Acadia's library catalogue or websites such as Pubmed.

Include a Reference List at the end of your paper. Please follow the referencing style of the latest version of APA.

Acadia has a variety of resources on APA at: http://libguides.acadiau.ca/content.php?pid=18721&sid=614562.

Your completed assignment should include:

A title page with your name, course number, and chosen diet

Your 1500 maximum word essay, with headings and references where appropriate

Reference list in the style of APA.